Wouldn't the US pay dearly for any attack on Iran. Given that it clear that Iran has had Radio active material

Question

for some time. It would be well within their capabilities to create a dirty bomb, which if unleashed on a US city could have devastating consequences for millions of people. The fact that this possibility has also existed for some time also begs the question: is Iran really the threat that the White House would have everyone believe? We Know that the WMD story to invade Iraq was a lot of nonsense, the invasion was about oil supplies and the fact that Saddam started trading his oil in Euros undermining the Dollar.
So what is the truth? If the Iranians are a bunch of lunatics, then why haven't they attacked the US in a big way before now?

Bryan's contention that radioactive material would be incenerated is simply wrong, if it didn't happen in the atomic explosions in Japan, it certianly won't in a convensional explosion.

As for Sprcpt, i asume you have not been breathing Uranium dust in and drinking it in your water supply for 10 years.

Answer 1

Yes. First of all it's a BAD idea to start a war without using diplomacy to the fullest extent possible first. Second of all, our military is too busy committing genocide in the name of oil thievery in other parts of the world to be able to handle a pre-emptive strike on Iran. Therefore, the military is spread out too thin as it is, so it is ill-equipped to handle war with Iran.

Did you guys know that Iran has a draft? That means every citizen in Iran would have to serve if a war occurs. And you know what THAT means -the draft would get re-introduced here as well.

Stop provoking war with other countries! Terror begets terror.

Answer 2

I do not believe that the average Iranian is fanatical or dangerous. I do believe that certain elements of their government are. I do not believe that we should invade Iran, but I do believe we should do everything in our power short of that to stop them from developing nukes. As to your contention about dirty bombs, there is a school of thought in science which believes that these bombs will not work as advertised. It is believed that the detonation would basically incinerate the radioactive material. I think this is probably a good conclusion given the fact that a dirty bomb has never been used anywhere to date. I guess time will tell. As to Iran attacking the United States, this is highly unlikely given the fact that any such move would surely signal their destruction without question, especially if any biological or nuclear type weapon was used. I do believe that we would not be in Iraq if they did not have oil. However your contention that they did not have WMDs is incorrect and denies history. Saddam used these weapons both against Iran and his own people. What happened to them? Who knows? Maybe they were destroyed as reported, but to deny that they ever existed is a fantasy.

Edit: It is not my contention, it is a scientific theory which has been put foward. Further you are confusing a nuclear explosion which is a chain reaction triggered by a shaped charge which ignites a nuclear reaction with dusting a bomb with some loose radiaoactive material. I don't know if they will work or not and frankly I don't care to find out.

Answer 3

They have enriched uranium.

It mostly gives off only alpha and beta radiation.
The only neutron radiation it gives off is due to natural decay which with the extremely long half life of uranium is very low.
Uranium only gives off gamma when it undergoes fission.

Alpha radiation will not travel much more than a foot in air.

Beta radiation will not travel much more than a 2 1/2 feet in air.

Neither Alpha or Beta will even penetrate your skin, it can with enough exposure give you a cataract on the cornea of your eye.

I have worked in a nuclear fuel production plant as a Nuclear Engineer for 10 years.

Sure you can spread out some uranium with a dirty bomb, but the psychological affect on people that do not know any better will be much worse than any actual damage it would cause.

Edit - Actually we breath uranium dust every day and you get more damaging exposure from gamma radiation on a cross country airplane flight than you do from a month of working in an environment of uranium dust. A single chest Xray gives you more damaging exposure than a year of this envionment.

Your body does not absorb uranium. If you breath it, you cough it up and more often than not swallow it. It then passes out in your stool.

The health physics department monitors each and every persons air intake with a personal vaccum pump with a filter paper over the air inlet of the vaccum pump as well as we have to submit stool samples on a monthly basis.

Every year we undergo a "whole body count" which consists of being placed in a lead coffin with radiation detectors on the inside to precisely measure how much radiological "burden" we carry.

Edit #2 - You are correct in the fact that radiological materials will not incenerate. These are radioactive elements, you can chemicaly react them to break or build molecules but the elements themselves still remain.

Answer 4

The US has stated emphatically it is not planning on a war in Iran. Saddam has an oil embargo so there was little consequence in invading Iraq to prevent him from doing so; the Food-For-Oil program traded in dollars.

Europe is convinced this war was to prevent Iran from opening their bourse for selling oil in euros. If Iran was so determined to do so why haven't they done so before the US has a reason for war. Instead they are stalling and allowing the UN sanctions to build.

The US doesn't want a war with Iran, Europe does.

Answer 5

You are exactly right. with in time they will produce such bombs and try and use them on the US or Israel. So it is in the best interest of the US and Israel too put Iran out of the weapon making business

Answer 6

That would be the stupidest thing we could ever imagine doing right now. Fall out would more than nuclear and would spread world wide.

Answer 7

The truth is , When the devil wants something , He just take's it. No matter the cost or the out come.